Temple solution at hand, claims Advani

P R Ramesh, TNNSep 26, 2003, 06.30am IST

SOMNATH: Deputy prime minister L K Advani on Thursday commemorated the anniversary of the launch of his rath yatra by asserting that a negotiated settlement to the temple-mosque dispute was on the cards.

Mr Advani's remarks at the Somnath temple, which served as the launchpad of his yatra, are significant, in that they show that negotiations between the two sides have been revived. The talks, spearheaded by Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswati, collapsed early this year after the All India Muslim Personal Law Board dismissed the former's formula as "unacceptable."

Though a pilgrimage to Somnath has been an annual feature on Mr Advani's calendar, the latest trip to the famous temple town takes on even greater importance because of the recent judicial respite for him in the demolition case.

Speaking to correspondents, Mr Advani denied the suggestion that the BJP's conception of the Ayodhya movement was religious in nature, saying that he chose to couch his arguments in religious idioms only because they resonated better with the masses. The deputy prime minister said that since the Palampur resolution of 1989, which marked the entry of the party in a movement till then conducted under the aegis of the VHP, the BJP has consistently treated the temple campaign as a political one, aimed against pseudo-secularism.

Touching upon the December 6 demolition, he reiterated that the BJP had not planned it. To buttress his argument, he said that the demolition had an adverse impact on the BJP, taking a toll on its credibility.

He, however, strongly justified the decision to start the rath yatra, saying that the event which altered the contours of politics had been necessitated by the entrenched hostility to any viewpoint which was not in consonance with the rampant 'pseudo-secularism'. He recalled the dramatic fashion in which former prime minister VP Singh, while campaigning for the 1989 election, had ordered the removal of BJP flags from the venue of his public meeting, even when he had no qualms about openly soliciting the support of the very same party. "His action was only symptomatic of the larger hostility that we faced," said Mr Advani while disputing the former prime minister's argument that the rath yatra was planned to frustrate the implementation of the Mandal Commission.

He argued that the temple movement is valid because the mindset it sought to oppose still remains strong and can be seen interfering with the battle against cross-border terror. If anything, the challenge of cross-border terror has invested the rationale behind the temple movement with greater relevance, Mr Advani said.